Oh Good Grief.

Oh lookit!  I finally get my butt into gear and decide to write a blog post and they went and changed it all.  :/  Like I don't have enough trouble figuring out what the hell I am doing.  Let's review!!  I think it took me months and months to figure out how to post pictures.    And then it was a pain in the ass.  I don't know if it's the iphoto silliness or if it's just that the old system was annoying.  Maybe it's me.  It's probably me.  But it is much easier now!!   I'm not saying the changes are bad.  I'm just saying it's gonna take me a bit to get it all figured out.  Could be months.  Or years.  Because while I love chattering on and on, the figuring out of the technical details?  Not so much.  I would rather be sewing.  Or drafting patterns.

Which brings me to my latest idea.  Which isn't so very new as my mother very astutely pointed out to me.

There needs to be someone catering to the plus-sized women a lot more than they are being catered to now.  Oh!  Clothes.  I am talking about clothes here.  I don't really shop for clothes so much myself, I mostly make mine.  But the subject of lack of attractive plus-sized womens' clothing seems to keep coming up in CPaAGG.  I keep thinking, " I could so be fixing this!"  When I told my mom, she pointed out that she had told me 20 years ago that I could make a fortune doing this.  I pointed out that 20 years ago, not many had the intarwebz in their home and I would have had to find a rep, make a line, have the rep sell the line to stores, blahblahblah.  Now?  All I need is a computer and a printer.  I can sell directly to the ladies via the magic of the intarnetz!!  No middle man!  Wholesale prices directly to you!

This is still in the really, really super early planning stages, but for the love of pete, if you are reading this and have input/opinions, please share!!

Tags.  Tags would be the really big thing I can't figure out how to do with this new format.  Boo.  Oh hey!  Found it!  Go me.

Project Bags!

And oh, so very, very many of them!  Okay.  I  call them project bags because I am a knitter.  And that's what we do with them.  Stow one of our 50 bajilliondy projects in them.  But they are good for other stuff too.  Make-up, art supplies, organizing all the crap in your bag.  Whatever.   I have a few that I found flaws on after I got them sewed up, this happens sometimes when dealing with vintage goodies, and I keep thinking I will just list them as very price reduced seconds at some point.  But I keep grabbing them and using them for things.   I should probably stop this or I won't have any to sell.

MsBettiesHandmade

And while we are on the subject,  I also have a shop of vintage finds, MsBettiesVintage

You know what sucks and has absolutely nothing to do with sewing?

Having friends who have cancer. I am too young for this shit. Or that's what I thought. Maybe I'm getting old. (sigh)

My friend Rick has cancer. I know, I know. A lot of people have cancer. But he lives in Buenos Aires and is on their national health care. And is getting his radiation treatments on some kind of pre-Nixon era machine. Which I imagine as looking like something out of a B-grade horror film. Actually, I don't know if he's actually started treatment or not. But he did say that the doctor told him he should sell everything so that he could afford the private treatments on the more-betterer-gooderer machine. :/

So this all makes me go into some kind of whacked-out Mom mode where I want to make him soup and knit him things and junk. I don't know if soup would be edible by the time it got to Buenos Aires. Crap. Am I spelling that right? I thought I was. But spell check don't think so.

Did I mention that Rick is one of my oldest friends? Yeah. I've known him since I was 20 or 21. I forget.

Oh jeez. I left out the point. The point of all of this random muttering is that he has extra expenses now. For medical things. Like colostomy bags. He makes enough to live on, but has no savings, and is pretty much paycheck to paycheck. So what with starting two Etsy shops lately, one for vintage goodies, one for things I've sewn, I am going to attempt to send maybe 10% to him via paypal. We'll see if I can swing that. Cause we be kinda broke right now. But I feel that this is much more spot on than tithing to any church.

Wow.

Sweet Mother of Maude I am so full of blogging fail of late. I last posted something in November? That's just sad. Well, seeing as to how my dad is the only one who read this, I suppose it's not really such a big deal.

What's been going on.... all kinds of stuff really.

I am down another cat. Stinkiecat died a week or so ago. Which wasn't too surprising. He had done nothing but lose weight since Alex died last August. Alex died during Halsted Market Days weekend. Which pretty much makes me want to pretend that Halsted Street Market Days doesn't even exist. It just makes me think of the cat.

But Mark's cats seem to really be warming up to me. Flash has finally figured out that he can come and beg me for love when I go to bed and then come back and get more love when Mark comes to bed. He's cute as hell, but dumber than a box of rocks.

It's odd how often I talk about the cats on this, the Needle for Hire blog.

So yeah. I have been going through the piles of fabric with stuff to sell on etsy in mind. I have so many little project bags cut out and partially put together. I got the first round done and had to order more zippers. I ordered over 100 hundred zippers. That's a whole lot of project bags. And that's just the start of it. I haven't even begun to explore the stacks of fabric that are big enough to make aprons, dresses, whatever... out of.

I'll have to post some pictures when I get some taken.

Spam Sucks

Dang it. I got an email this morning saying there was a comment here on the ol' blog. It was spam. Bastards. There is a special place in hell for people who spam comments on other people's blogs. I am so totally gonna sic my computer programmer geek boyfriend on your ass. So there. Yes. I am so totally 12.

Hmph.

I was just looking at old blog posts. On October 15th, I was quite excited about ComEd having some program that involved them coming and fetching old appliances and hauling them away to recycle. I was very excited about this. I just thought that I should provide an update on that. Manfriend hung around ALLLLLLLL day that day, ( I had to work) and they never never, ever showed up. I even called them. They said the dudes were running late. Hmmph. Whatever. We took off the lid and parked it out by the trash cans. It was gone by midday the next day. But I think ComEd should still give me my $25 rebate. Bastards. They didn't even bother to send some kind of apologetic email. I wish there was another electricity option.

Dad, if you are reading this, you better leave me comments dammit! :P

So yesterday I sent my family an email, saying, "Yo. Can you all use my gmail for email instead of the crappy sbc?" And I got an email back from my dad. Apparently he was bored, and had read every. Single. Blogpost. But left no comments. Which is weird. Because the man will talk your ear off. I want comments golldangit!! Even if it does just end up being a conversation via blog with Dad.

And mom emailed me back through the old email address, with a long, chatty email, saying that all these different emails confused her and she would use the new one. But she didn't. headdesk

Manfriend is all moved in now. The enclosed back porch room is a whole new world! I keep wanting to hang out back there. Who would have thought that it could look so nice? And he still wants to put up bunches of shelves.


What am I doing.... hmmmm.

Well, we have a whole slew of cute little cashmere hats in the works. Those will be listed on Etsy. Cute, knit, cashmere, reversible, what more does one need in a chapeau? I might have to get my butt in gear and actually post some pictures of them when they are done. You know, so Dad can see what they look like.

I have several pairs of pants in the works for Manfriend as well. I got two pair made already. These aren't super-fancy or anything, just jamma pants for hanging around the house. I have also promised him a pair of linen jeans. Have I mentioned how cute he is? Heh. :P Oh hell, what was I talking about?

Meh.

So there are now boxes of crap all over the apartment. I will spare you pictures, no one needs to see that. It's not. pretty. I seem to mainly be getting rid of books. There are a lot of cookbooks going away. It's funny how few of them I use. I mostly use the same ones that I have been using for years. Just to summarize...

I have 2 boxes of books to get rid of. This is not including the cookbooks. I think I can find homes for all of them.

I have 1 rather largeish box of clothing to get rid of. I was merciless. If I hadn't worn it in the last year, it was gone.

A whole crapton of pots for plants. I have no clue what I am going to do with these. Maybe the little neighborhood thrift store?

I have about 15 packages of varying shapes and sizes to get to the post office. I am RAK-ing a bunch of stuff. I love it when I have something that someone else really, really wants. And several small boxes of books that are going to various people.

I have another shelf of books to go through. Then I think I am mostly done with books.

I need to get this all out of my way so that I can get some sewing done. I have a whole slew of knitting project bags to sew and put up on etsy. I also have the recycled cashmere hats to get sewn and listed. If only I didn't have to go to work.


I can tell it's getting colder. Teh Stinkiecat won't get off of me. Ever. He stayed with me through all of last night. Little booger. He was curled up on the pillow nex to me with my cheek lying on his wittle fuddy butt. He is full of awesome.

Lame? Oh Hell's yeah I am!

I don't seem to be blogging about much of anything lately. And now, I am blogging because I am sick of re-potting plants and trying to figure out where to put all the dishes I thought that I needed 10 years ago. Does anyone want a bunch of Harlequin dishes? I have, a lot. They are really super pretty!!! I could try to sell them on ebay, but damn, that's a lot of work. I did pass a shop on Dempster up in Evanston that had a bit of Harlequin in the window. Maybe they would be interested. I wish I could remember the name of that place.

I have so much stuff scattered all over, it's driving me nuts. But. I found someone to take the deep freeze. ComEd had an ad on craigslist. They come and fetch it, take it away and recycle it. And give you a $25 rebate! Woot!

Now if I could only find a home for the industrial sewing machine.

Huh.

Well she-ooot. I don't quite know what my blog should be about anymore. I suppose I should maybe switch out the pictures of the cat who has passed on... but that requires remembering how to do pictures on here. It was a nightmare the first time around. I should probably take some kind of basic computer skills class. It would probably fill in a lot of gaps.

I have a boyfriend now. Met him back in February. He's adorable. And moving in the end of the month. He is good with the computer. Maybe I can get him to do the picture bits on the blog for me. Hmm.

In the meantime, I am busy trying to clear excess clutter out of my life/apartment to make room for his stuff and because I just have too much stuff. Gah.

It's going slow.

Sigh..... I knew he was old, but still....

It sucks when a pet dies. Alex was anywhere between 18-20 years old. And on his daddy's birthday, he stopped eating. He still seemed to be his same old sassy self, but no eating. Given his age and his extreme dislike of going to the vet, I opted for letting him go at his own pace here at home. He died sometime in the morning of August 3rd. I will miss him dearly.

Stinkiecat seems to have gotten over it pretty quick though. Two weeks later and he's all like, " Suhweet! More Mommy for meeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"

R.I.P. Bernie

So yeah. I think it's finally time to give up on Bernie. Bernie would be my 21 year old Bernina 910 sewing machine. Berninas are awesome sewing machines, but alas, the 910 was a home model. I firmly believe that I wore him out. Why exactly I have decided that my sewing machine is a male, I do not know. The good news is that about 2 years ago when Bernie started ailing, I started perusing Ebay to find a replacement. After a false start with a low-end Bernina that has no button hole feature, I ended up with a Singer from the early 60's. Which was an incredibly good buy. Sewing Machine Dude told me I should never, ever get rid of it. And I won't. My mom had a different model from the same line, same era of Singers. Sewing Machine Dude would be a guy I found in the Chicago yellow pages. He comes out to your house to fix your machine. If it needs a lot of work, he takes it away and brings it back about a week later. He. Is. Awesome.

Spring has sprung

Or as what often happens in Chicago in spring, we went from freezing our asses off to the mid 80's. Why do we all keep putting up with this? =)

I am so full of blog-fail of late. I haven't blogged since freaking October for pete's sake. I. Am. Lame.

But it's okay...'cuz I haz boyfriend now! A very fun boyfriend. Who is sweet and adorable and who would seem to think the same of me. Wow. How did that happen? My dating life, not usually much to report. But the real question is how do I feel about living on a boat? This keeps coming up. Because that's his dream. It's not the solitude of it that makes me hesitate, but the being-in-the-middle-of-the-ocean-with-no-land-in-sight part of it.

I have all kinds of fun and exciting sewing projects going on. Which of course I will not put posting picture of. Because that's too much work and I never manage to put them in the right place. Dur.

I am re-covering the cushions for a chair. That is done now. Cushion jobs are a lot of fun. There is something oddly satisfying about zipping a pretty, fresh, new cover onto a old, ratty looking cushion.

Pants. I am trading pants for my February Lady Sweater. I got the yoke of the sweater done and realized that having not knit lace before, the rest of the sweater was not going to go as smoothly as I would have liked. One of my friends had just finished her's and having heard her mention that she has trouble finding pants that fit, I offered a trade. They are soooooo close! But I now see why she has trouble buying pants. I think it would have been better just draft a pattern rather than tinkering with one I have. They are just too big. Every fitting has been a case of taking in some here, taking in some there. I feel like I have been slacking. She had my sweater done ages ago. I do love, love, love the sweater!!!

I am also doing a wedding outfit. I say outfit because it is a corset and skirt, not a dress. That's gonna be a lot of fun to make! I love making corsets.

Plus, my birthday is on Tuesday. Boyfriend has all kinds of fun ideas. We are going to dinner and Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind on Saturday. Sunday we were going to just bum around downtown, but then I remembered that Memorial Day Weekend = IML!!! So we are going to the leather market at IML on Sunday instead. Mmmm, leather men..... did I mention that boyfriend is a leather worker? Heh. And I don't know what all else he has planned, but it was suggested to me that I take the day after my birthday off. So I did.

Blog #43 or, According to Blogspot, This is My #43 Post.

I don't know how I got so mixed up with my numbers. Maybe I should come up with a different system. It could be a little bit tedious when I get up to a bajilliondy blog posts. As if.


There is a skunk in my neighborhood. And yes, I'm talking about a for reals skunk. Not the ward alderman. I could smell it this morning. I have heard no other talk of any kind about skunks in the city. Someone at work asked me if I was sure it wasn't pot. Um. Ew. If people are now smoking pot that smells like skunk, dude, then I really do not understand the kids today. And yes, I have smelt both and I do know the difference. I did large chunks of summers as a kid on a farm. I know me some skunk when I smells it. Besides, I saw a skunk-shaped being waddle across Morse Ave while I was waiting for the train. I wonder if he's on Daley's payroll.....ouch! I wouldn't be making that crack if the CTA wasn't talking about raising fares again. Stupid old people and their free rides. Pfffbbbbt!!! Bite me. And no, I am not giving up my seat for someone who didn't actually pay to get on the bus/train. So there. Yes, I will fake being asleep behind my big, black sunglasses.

And since I am talking about our fine city. I used to read the Tribune every day that I was at work. No more. I just really hate the new layout. I realize how stupid that sounds. But it seems like less paper and when I'm done, I don't feel like I've read the paper at all. So I have been reading the Sun-Times. Maybe I should just read the New York Times and be done with it. At least they talk about fashion and shit.

And speaking of fashion. I still haven't watched more than the very first episode of the most recent Project Runway. Sad, but true.

Blog #39, or Dude, There Is Nothing Scarier Than

hearing the guys outside your apartment who are removing a big-ass tree, yelling, "NO!NO!NO!!! YOUR ROPE! YOUR ROPE MAN! NO! NO! NO! STOP!"

The tree, is(was) taller than the two story building that I live in, and, should it fall, it would mostly fall into my apartment. Especially since now it is almost gone and much shorter.

#38, or Has It Really Been So Very, Very Long Since We Were Together?

Apparently, yes it has.

I have been working at the Goodman Theatre, on a musical. I am in the craft room, which is great fun. We are making hundreds, nay, thousands of ribbon flowers. Okay, maybe it is really just hundreds. Some big, new musical thing. Directed by Tommy Tune. Jeff Daniels and Rachel York are in it. Yeah, that Jeff Daniels. No, I haven't. I have never seen so many people in the sewing room before. It's crazy. I have seen this many in the craft room though, when I got to help make the crazy-ass wigs for "The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove". This whole thing involves days and days of opening at the Starbucks, and then going to the theatre. And for this show, we get to stay late if we want. So I have been leaving the house at 4:30 am, and getting home at almost 7 pee-em. I's sleepy. And Alex is giving me the cold shoulder. Booger-kittie.

I have been getting lots of odds and ends of knitting done though. The do-over on the front of my Looking Glass Sweater is done. I just have to block it. And I am making splendid progress on, er, ah, well, let's just say that some Christmas Knitting is getting done and leave it at that. Ha.

I bought a bunch of new roving off of etsy. Ooooo, the one seller has yummy-yummy colors! I bought a lot from her. I also bought myself some new earrings. A girl needs some new baubles from time to time.

I have been doing really well with finally getting gobs and gobs of project and stash pictures taken and downloaded so that I can get them onto Ravelry.

Stinkiecat is prancing about the desk, me thinks it is his way of telling me I need to get my hiney off of the computer and pay attention to him. He wins.

Blog #37, A For Reals #37 This Time

So really, this post is about one thing and one thing only.

I did my gauge swatch for my February Lady Sweater. I have no idea what size needle I used, it is an Addi whose numbers have worn off, but. I have achieved gauge. Exactly. On the first try.

And, I am wishing I had enough of the Lorna's Laces in red to do it in red. It's a great red. I might need a sweater out of it.

The planets must be in perfect alignment or something.

Blog #36, In Which Bettie Realizes That She Can't Count, aka Sequence Numbers, Properly

No. Please. No fainting. I know, two posts in less than 24 hours, whassupwiththat? Good question. I have no clue. But it's almost 4 am and I am wide awake. Actually I was wide awake about 2 hours ago. I only just got out of the bed. And upon exiting the bedroom, door left slighly ajar, almost tripped over Mr. Fluffiepants. Like he forgot how to push doors open or something. I don't understand this. He knows how to open doors, I've seen him do it. Maybe he was being thoughtful and considerate. Yeah, right.

So I am participating in the Ravelympics. In which we cast on during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and attempt to have said project finished by the end of closing ceremonies. I am doing the February Lady Sweater. I forget who did the pattern and am too lazy to leave the 'puter and find out. But it is based, or perhaps I should say 'unvented' from Elizabeth Zimmerman's February Baby Sweater. But sized for 'a grown-ass woman', as it says on the pattern. It's a free pattern off of Ravelry. I am using some of the Lorna's Laces green yarn that I got at the warehouse sale. I have done the math about 6 times now. And considered and re-considered which size, how much ease or negative ease I want and all of that good stuff. The yarn is pink. Very pink. I loves it. I believe I will be swatching today at knit group. Swatching is what we do for training. Will there be pictures? I can guarantee that they will taken, whether or not I actually decide to apply myself and post here remains to be seen. Heh. I am tres lame.

Oh crap. I almost forgot. Bernie is dead. I turn him on and I don't even get the mechanical-whining-motor-trying-to-go-kind of noise. He's not even trying anymore. I turn him on and hit the gas, and...... nothing. Just flat-out, straight-up, dead quiet. I am planning on giving him a little rest, and then trying again, but man, it don't look good. Anyone wanna gimme a thousand bucks or so for my Tacsew?

Blog #37, I Think. But Really? I've Lost Track.

So today? My mail carrier? Or are we still using mail man? Though if you think about it, that's a little redundant. But I digress. It is now 4:49 pee em. On Saturday. Waaaaaaaay later than when the mail is supposed to arrive. The mail should be waiting for me when I get home. Who cares? You might ask. Well I do and I will tell you why. In he/she's little mail cart thingey, they carry not just the neighborhoods' mail, but, and this would be the most important bit, discs #5 and #6 of season 2 of the NEW DR. WHO. Yes, I'm yelling. Deal. I was all psyched up to watch another 3 or more episodes tonight. Netflix promised! And now, the mail carrier had to get up all in the way and not bring me my mail. Asshat. What the heck am I supposed to do after dinner now? Sheeesh.

And lest we think that this post is nothing but me kvetching about the mail carrier, I would like to mention the vast amounts of garter stitch projects I have been finishing during the whole process. Which may, or may not eventually be posted here. Since figuring out how to post pictures, I have found it to be a bit of a pain in the ass and don't do it much.

Blog #30-something.

I am tres lame. It's been over a month since the last blog entry. And James and Joe have come and gone. Joe is, adorable. But even more to the point, he found a hat in my apartment, that I knit, that fits him perfectly and that he loves! Ahha! Something to knit Joe for Christmas! Suh-weet! And James loves the yarn and slipper pattern for his man slippers. The boy has excellent taste, they are Malabrigo. God I frakking hate spell check! I know Malabrigo isn't a word, that's why it's capitalized, asshats!

So I just finished watching the first episode of Season 5 of Project Runway. They did the whole grocery store thing from season 1 again. Which, of course, has me thinking, WWBD? What would Bettie do? I know what she wouldn't do, and that would be going for the obvious choice of a tablecloth or napkins or paper towels or trash bags. Too predictable. I can't believe that anyone used those things. Duh. And they are, most of them, quite young this time around. Lots of 25-27 year olds. Whatever. I hope I am not bored like I was with last season. I didn't even watch the last 2-3 episodes. Once fashion week happened, I saw all of their shows on line and really didn't even care who won. I know who's clothes I liked and that's all I cared about apparently.

I haz a date tomorrow. Must. Find. Cute. Outfit.